Worse Than Boys(58)

‘She’s not worth it,’ someone said. I looked round them all. They were staring at me with disgust in their eyes.

I looked around for my mates, but none of them were there. This lot looked as if they were ready to thump me. Mrs Tasker came pushing her way through the crowd. She looked disgusted with me too. ‘Come with me, Hannah Driscoll.’

She called me by my full name. I really was in trouble. They broke a path for me, stepping away from me, as if they might catch something if they came too close. Someone spat at me and it hit my blazer. Mrs Tasker didn’t even notice, wouldn’t have cared if she had.

‘You’re for it this time, Driscoll,’ I heard someone else say.

I hurried after the teacher, as much for protection as anything else. ‘What is going on, Mrs Tasker?’

She didn’t look back. All she said was, ‘I really hope you don’t know, Hannah.’

Wizzie, Grace and Sonya were already in the head’s office when I went in. ‘What’s all this about?’ I asked.

Sonya shrugged. ‘We’ve n-n-not been t-t-old yet.’ Nerves bringing on her stutter.

Mr McGinty yelled at us. ‘Shut up! Be thankful I’m speaking to you before the police come.’

The police? I glanced at Wizzie. She shrugged too, in that couldn’t-care-less fashion that annoyed everyone so much. But she had two little red spots on her white cheeks and I knew she was nervous too.

When the head spoke again, it was me he looked at, me he spoke to. ‘There was a fire at Erin Brodie’s house last night.’

‘What’s that got to do with us?’ I blurted the words out. I was frightened suddenly. The sirens in the night, had they been heading for Erin’s house?

His eyes flashed with anger. ‘Don’t you dare interrupt me! It would seem it has a lot to do with you. That fire was no accident. It was started deliberately. Rags soaked in petrol were lit and then pushed through her letterbox. A gang of girls was seen running away.’

‘Was anybody hurt?’ Grace asked nervously.

‘It was only sheer luck that there were no serious casualties. Everyone was treated for smoke inhalation and one of the neighbours had to jump from an upstairs window.’

‘We weren’t that gang of girls,’ I snapped out.

‘Weren’t you?’

Couldn’t he see that by the look on our faces? Sonya was ready to burst into tears. Grace was shaking. Wizzie was staring at the floor. Why did she always have to pretend she didn’t care?! She refused to look up at him.

‘Your parents have been sent for. They’ll be here shortly.’ I could hear Grace begin to cry now. ‘Because of Lauren’s mother’s disability, the police have gone there.’ I had wondered why Lauren wasn’t here. I knew now. He looked around us in disgust. ‘Get them out of my sight, Mrs Tasker.’

We were herded into an empty room while we waited for our parents and the police to arrive. ‘Who could have done this?’ I said.

‘None of us,’ Grace said.

And Wizzie didn’t say a word. She sat away from us, with her back turned.

‘Any ideas, Wizzie?’ I asked.

‘How should I know?’ she said, her face still turned away from us. I wanted her to look me in the eye and say it.

We sat in silence while we waited. Grace was scared of her dad’s reaction. Sonya was crying softly.

Everyone seemed to believe we were guilty. Guilty until proven innocent. Yet there was no real proof against us, was there? A gang of girls seen running away. The town was full of gangs of girls. Could have been any of them. But who?

I knew I didn’t do it.

And not the Hell Cats either. There had been a time when I would have believed them capable of anything. That was before I had got to know them, to like them. I had changed my opinion of them entirely. Lauren was too happy rehearsing for the part … she wouldn’t risk that now. Sonya never thought up anything bad to do. She thought joyriding was the most exciting thing she’d ever done. Grace just followed along behind, did what the rest suggested. Never came up with an idea of her own.

But Wizzie? I tried to believe Wizzie couldn’t be capable of this either. Wizzie, who seemed to have a secret life somewhere away from us.

I kept thinking of what she’d said just yesterday and it frightened me.

I’ll show you what getting your own back on Erin Brodie is.

Was that what she’d done – shown me what revenge is really like?





Chapter Fifty-One


I was proud of my mum for the first time. When the police questioned us, she didn’t fall apart as I expected her to. She didn’t start screaming and shouting like Grace’s dad, or swearing like Sonya’s parents. She simply told the police her daughter would never do anything like that, no matter how badly she’d been treated, or how much she resented Erin. I could see she was ready for a good cry, but she held it in. She stuck up for me.